India rape protest
© AFP 2018 / Noah SEELAM
Despite sterner modifications having been made to rape laws, incidences of rape are on the rise in India. According to data furnished by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 38,947 cases of rape were registered in 2016, 34,651 in 2015 and 36,735 in 2014.

The minister of state for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju, told Parliament that 110,333 rape cases were registered in India between 2014 and 2016, meaning almost 100 rape cases were reported per day during these three years.


Comment: Reports say that children are the victims in about 40 percent of the cases. India has a serious problem with rape.


There has also been no decline in the rate at which other forms of crimes have been committed against women in India. There were a total of 338,954 registered cases of crimes against women in 2016, 329,243 in 2015 and 339,457 in 2014.

"The government has issued advisories to states and the Union Territories to take measures for the prevention of crimes against women, stressing on the mandatory registration of first instance reports, providing an online complaint filing system, increasing representation of women in the police, gender sensitization of the police, the deployment of special Mahila [lady] police volunteers, activating a victim compensation fund, [and] the setting up of anti-human trafficking units," junior minister for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju, said in Parliament.

The Home Ministry has undertaken a project for developing an emergency response support system based on a pan-Indian 24/7 helpline number. A separate portal for cyber crimes against women and children has also been started and the Home Ministry is working on a national database of sexual offenders to facilitate the investigation, according to Rijiju.